Emergency Respite Care: What to Do When You Can’t Provide Care

If you’re in an emergency right now, skip to the steps below. If you’re reading this in advance — good. Ten minutes spent now is worth more than any amount of searching on the day.

Local guides: London (what to do if a family carer can’t cope).

If you need cover today

1. Call local home care providers directly and say the word “emergency”. Many can mobilise within hours, and some same-day. Phone rather than emailing or filling in a web form.
2. Call your council’s adult social care team. They have a duty to respond where an adult is at risk, including out of hours through the emergency duty team. Say clearly that the usual carer is unable to provide care and the person is at risk.
3. If they’re in hospital or being discharged, tell the discharge team immediately that care has fallen through. A discharge must have a safe plan.
4. If there’s immediate danger — they’ve fallen, they’re unwell, they’ve gone missing — call 999.
5. Ask about NHS Continuing Healthcare if health needs are substantial, and Fast Track if the person is rapidly deteriorating. Funding can be in place in 48 hours.

When emergency respite is needed

• The family carer is admitted to hospital, or has a fall or injury themselves
• The carer has flu, Covid or another infection they can’t risk passing on
• A bereavement or family crisis elsewhere
• An existing care package collapses — an agency gives notice, or a live-in carer leaves
• A hospital discharge happens faster than the arranged package
• The carer has reached the point of being unable to continue safely. This is legitimate. See carer burnout

What’s available at short notice

Hourly and overnight cover is generally quickest because it doesn’t need a matched placement. A care home bed is sometimes faster than live-in care, but means a move — significant for anyone with dementia.

Prepare now: the ten-minute version

Do this today, before you need it.

Write an emergency care plan

One page, kept where someone else can find it — on the fridge, and a photo on your phone. Include:

• The person’s full name, date of birth, NHS number and address
• GP surgery and phone number
• Full medication list with doses and times — the single most useful item on the sheet
• Conditions, allergies, and anything about mobility or swallowing
• Daily routine: when they get up, eat, take tablets, go to bed
• How they communicate, what distresses them, what settles them
• Key safe code and where spare keys are
• Who to call — family, social worker, care provider, neighbour
• Pets, and who feeds them

Register a plan with your local carers’ centre

Most areas have a carers’ support service (for example, Carers Support West Sussex). Many help carers make a formal emergency plan and issue a card for your wallet, so that if you’re taken to hospital the people treating you know someone is depending on you at home. This is free and it removes a specific constant fear.

Line up a provider in advance

Have a free assessment with a local provider now, even if you don’t need care yet. If they already know the person, their routine and their house, emergency cover goes from “find an agency” to “make one call”. Many families do this purely as insurance.

Know your funding position

Emergency care usually gets arranged first and funded second. Knowing whether council support, Attendance Allowance or NHS funding applies saves days. See the guide to paying for home care.

Afterwards

An emergency is usually a signal rather than a one-off. Once things are stable, request a care needs assessment for the person and a Carer’s Assessment for yourself, and consider whether some regular respite would prevent the next one.

For families in London

Most of this guide applies anywhere in England. If the person you care for lives in London, these points are specific to the capital.

Contact the council’s adult social care team

In London, social care is run by the 32 boroughs and the City of London. Contact the borough where the person being cared for lives, not where you live.

During office hours, call the adult social care front door (sometimes called the access team or first contact team). Say:

• “This is an emergency. The main carer can no longer provide care.”
• Who the person is, their address, and their main needs.
• Whether they are safe right now and how long they can be left alone.
• What has happened to the carer.

Out of hours, at night, weekends and on bank holidays, call the council’s emergency duty team. Carers UK says these teams provide an emergency social work service when normal offices are closed. The number is usually on the borough’s website or given by the council’s main switchboard.

You’ll find links to every borough in our guide to London borough adult social care contacts.

What the council can do

Under section 19(3) of the Care Act 2014, the council can meet urgent needs before it has finished an assessment. In an emergency, it may:

• send care workers to the home;
• arrange an emergency short stay in a care home;
• contact family or friends named in a contingency plan;
• start a Care Act needs assessment and a carer’s assessment once the crisis has passed.

Council-arranged care may later be means-tested. In 2026/27 the upper capital limit in England is £23,250 (DHSC). Don’t let worries about cost delay a call in an emergency.

Arrange emergency respite care

There are three main routes. You may use more than one.

Booking private emergency respite at home

A CQC-registered home care agency may be able to start quickly, particularly for visiting care. To speed things up:

• say it is urgent and give a start date and time;
• describe needs clearly: personal care, mobility, continence, medicines, dementia;
• ask whether they can do a same-day assessment by phone or in person;
• ask about live-in or overnight care if the person cannot be left alone;
• get the price in writing, including weekend, night and bank-holiday rates.

As of 2026, London agencies typically charge £30–£40 an hour for weekday visiting care, with weekends often 10–25% more. Live-in care in London is typically £1,300–£1,800 a week for one person. Sources vary. See our guide to urgent home care in London for more on fast starts.

Frequently asked questions

How quickly can emergency respite care be arranged?

Hourly visits and sleeping nights can often be covered within hours or by the next day. Waking nights typically take 24–48 hours, and emergency live-in care 24–72 hours. Phone providers directly and use the word emergency rather than using a web form.

Who do I call if I can’t care for someone today?

Call local home care providers directly, and call your council’s adult social care team, which has a duty to respond where an adult is at risk — including out of hours through the emergency duty team. Call 999 if there’s immediate danger.

Will the council provide emergency care free?

The council must respond where someone is at risk and may arrange urgent support before completing assessments. Whether it’s free depends on the subsequent financial assessment, though care is usually arranged first and charging resolved afterwards.

What should an emergency care plan include?

Name, date of birth, NHS number, GP details, a full medication list with doses and times, conditions and allergies, daily routine, communication needs, key safe code, contacts, and arrangements for pets. Keep it visible and photograph it on your phone.

Can I arrange a provider in advance just in case?

Yes, and it’s the single most useful preparation. Have a free assessment now so a provider already knows the person and their routine. Emergency cover then becomes one phone call rather than a search.

The Care Panel is an independent publication. We are not a care provider and are not regulated by the Care Quality Commission, because we do not deliver care. Always check a provider’s own CQC registration and inspection report before you commit.

Written and fact-checked by The Care Panel. Last updated September 2026. General information, not medical or legal advice.

See also: Discharge to assess (D2A) explained: pathways, rights and support

Reviewed by The Care Panel team on 9 November 2026. This guide is general information about care in England, not legal, medical or financial advice. Rules and rates change; check with your council or an adviser before making decisions.